The Back Story

I realize that a lot of you reading this from ICLW don't know my backstory and I'm not going to make you search through all my old posts to find it. So I thought I would post a quick recap on everything TTC and how it is that I became an expectant Mommy. Those of you who know the story, sorry, but I just felt like rather than brag about my pregnancy, I would reminisce about my journey to this day.

Let me start by saying that I have had PCOS issues since high school. I went on the pill when I was 18 because of it and I practically stayed on the pill until I was 27 and ready to TTC. I had a few times where I didn't have insurance coverage and therefore went a few months without the pill. And let's just say that thanks to PCOS, I would have AF and she would stay for a lengthy visit until I could get Provera and start birth control pills again. So when Hubby and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary, we thought it was a good time to start trying. We had NO IDEA what we were in for. Now I can be quite naive and stubborn, so I thought we could be normal and just do everything on our own. After all, babies happen every day for women who both deserve them and don't deserve them. So I thought it would be as easy as pie. But after a little over a year, AF started to be a little more erratic, unpredictable. Then, she came and was determined to stay. I didn't feel like it was that bad, I didn't need to see the OBGYN, she would go away on her own. Nope. Wrong! She was so out of control that I thought I would was going to bleed to death. I left work one day and called my Hubby. I told him to get a hold of the doctor and either I needed medication immediately or I was going to the ER. I started Provera that night and that started a new chapter in our TTC journey.

I took the Provera and of course, AF went away. But when I was finished the Provera, AF came again, as expected, and didn't go away again. So I had to go in and see the doctor. I saw a different doctor because it was a roulette, you get whoever was in the office that day. Turns out that Dr. H would become the best thing that happened on the journey. He treated the bleeding issues with Provera again and then asked me to keep track of my BBT for a month. So I did. No ovulation. Just as he suspected all along. Time to start Clomid. He actually asked me why I didn't come in sooner, but I didn't know I was having problems. I did 4 Clomid cycles with him, the first and last of which I didn't ovulate on. So he referred me to Dr. V, an RE. Best referral ever. Really.

I started seeing Dr. V in June 2009. I opted to do more Clomid cycles, thinking it would really work at some point, it just had to. But even with adding IUI for three cycles, it still didn't work for me. I was supposed to start injectables in October, but I had a cyst creatings lots of Estrogen. Not a good situation. I was devastated, benched for the month with birth control pills. Then, they called me to tell me that my bloodwork was worse than they thought. I also had high Follicle Stimulating Hormone, putting my in the category of "Preovarian Failure." Great. Less eggs. Poor quality. Now I'll never get pregnant. I cried and cried. It was a very bad moment on the journey. But I worked through it and had faith that God had my life in the palm of His hand and whatever His will was, it would be done. Hard realization to come to. But I had to do it.

October ended and a new cycle started. I had my bloodwork and ultrasound done on CD 4 and I already had 4 follicles growing, all around 10mm each, seriously. I was shocked. No meds, no nothing, 4 follicles. So I started Menopur, Follistim, and Ganirelix. I was positive this cycle would be a bust, how in the world could it possibly work? I stimmed for only 4 nights, triggered, and had IUI on CD 10. So really, how could it work? Well, I got a positive pregnancy test on Thanksgiving, a day I will never forget. 

So fast forward until now, I'm almost 30 weeks pregnant and still in disbelief and shock that I can write all this and tell you that I am expecting a baby girl in August. I just felt like you all should know the story so that if you read my blog and see all my joyous and happy posts, you know where the journey started. It wasn't always happy or joyous, but God provides when the time is right and He knew when I was going to be ready. 

Sorry for the long post, but thanks for reading it. Happy ICLW!